WVAS Local News

Alabama Prison officials have ended the segregation of eight HIV positive inmates at the Julia Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka. According to the Montgomery Advertiser, the eight females inmates are now housed with the general population. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit in 2011 to end the segregation. 40-year-old Dana Harley, an inmate at Tutwiler Prison, told the newspaper that she is pleased she will be treated like other prisoners. Another hearing is scheduled Thursday on behalf of HIV positive male inmates at Limestone Correctional Facility in north Alabama.

Payday Loans

Payday loan operators are suing to block a new loan database planned by the Alabama Department of Banking. Several payday loan businesses filed the suit in Montgomery County Circuit Court and asked a judge to stop the department from creating the database by regulation. Payday loan businesses argue the state is trying to create a database by regulations after the Legislature rejected a bill to do that last spring. The suit also contends the database is discriminatory because it does not apply to bank and online lenders.

Tax Fraud

A former Alabama State employee is headed to federal prison for stealing names and tax fraud. U.S. Attorney George Beck said Lea'tice Phillips of Montgomery County was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Monday. Federal prosecutors in Montgomery said Phillips who worked for a state agency stole names from state databases. She pleaded to guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft for participating in a tax refund fraud scheme that claimed over $1.7 million dollars in tax refunds. A co-defendant, Antionette Djonret of Montgomery has already been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Nightclub Shooting

A Montgomery man will serve three years and one month in federal prison for his role in a Montgomery nightclub shooting that injured six people. Federal Judge Mark Fuller ordered the sentence Monday for 26-year-old Timothy Robinson. Robinson pleaded guilty in June to being a felon in possession of a gun. He admitted that he used a .45-caliber Glock to exchange gunfire with another man at the Rose Supper Club on December 3rd, 2012. The six injuries led to the nightclub losing its liquor license. Robinson must also spend three years on probation.